Sperm DNA was collected from males that were obese and males that were lean. About 300 different genes were different in how they were/were not activated in the sperm DNA of the obese men. A lot of the genes had to do with learning memory, cognition, and metabolism. When the obese men underwent bariatric surgery (this reduces the size of the stomach to facilitate weight loss), the sperm DNA collected a year later, looked like that of the lean people.

Therefore, it’s important to consider the health of the father when trying to reproduce.

Breastfeeding during pregnancy

In breast milk, oligosaccharhides are very plentiful

They can’t be digested by the inflants digestive system, and are there solely to feed the infant’s gut microbiome, specifically increasing the species bifidobacterium infantis

This sets up the child’s immune system

Children that are not breast fed lack 4 different species of gut bacteria, and have a 3 fold increased risk of developing allergies and autoimmune related diseases

The stem cells in breast milk get digested, and go to into the bloodstream, and travel to different organs to further development

Estrogen has been shown to increase expression of a gene called tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2), which produces serotonin from tryptophan

After you have the baby, this effect decreases, making a lot of mothers feel sad

Also adding to the postpartum depression, new moms don’t get enough light, and sleep is drastically altered

Exercise increases the production of serotonin, and beta-endorphins. New neurons are also produced through BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor), which has also been shown to alleviate depressive symptoms.

Certain studies have shown that in people who exercise, the left part of their hippocampus doesn’t atrophy like in people who do not exercise

Joe thinks that there’s merit in the idea that giving babies so many vaccinations right after birth, might have some sort of negative consequence

The CDC website says some of these vaccines can cause epileptic seizures in infants

For this reason, Rhonda is going to vaccinate her son, but she plans to to do the vaccinations in single doses. “You don’t really know how a child”s immune system is going to react.”

When you’re not giving so many vaccines at once, the immune response isn’t as strong

There needs to be more reserach into how vaccinations react with the immune system

To be clear, both Rhonda and Joe are pro vaccination

Just like people have adverse reactions to certain foods, people will certainly have adverse reactions to some vaccines. Vaccines are essentially alive bacteria, given with the hope of administering an immune response, so it makes sense.

People have different glucose responses to certain foods based on their genes and microbiome makeup. Someone can have a high glucose response to fat – people are different.

Nutrition

Some effects – this predisposes a person to Alzheimer’s disease. Cholesterol also doesn’t get recycled very well in people with this gene (so someone with an APOE4 gene will have more circulating cholesterol at any given point).

Refined Sugar

Almost everything has sugar in it, if you go into a grocery store and pick up a random item, more likely that not there will be sugar in it

Has been shown to increase inflammatory biomarkers and increases the small dense LDL particle number – which is bad

There is not that much difference between drinking a large glass of orange juice and a large glass of soda

Saturated fat increases large LDL particle number, which isn’t that bad, but when eaten in combination with refined sugar, some of these large LDL particles can be converted to small LDL particles

If you don’t have this gene, your body won’t be very good at producing ketone bodies from fats

So the ketogenic diet may in fact be detrimental to someone who doesn’t have this, a high fat diet would lead to more free fatty acids in the blood stream, making someone more insulin insensitive, inflammatory biomarkers would also increase

If done right, the ketogenic diet, more specifically the BHB (a type of ketone) circulating in the blood, has an anti aging effect

Rhonda doesn’t follow a ketogenic diet due to the fact that she really likes to get a lot prebiotic fiber for the microbiome, it’s hard to do this on a ketogenic diet, although it’s doable

We still really don’t know how the ketogenic diet effects the microbiome (my gut biome diversity has gone down on a ketogenic diet)

If you don’t eat enough of the fermentable fiber, the bacteria in the microbiome start eating the carbohydrate lining in the gut, called mucin,which separates the immune cells in the gut from the bacteria

Rhonda has concern that people don’t get enough fermentable fiber on a ketogenic diet

NAD+

Similar to ATP, used as an energetic currency throughout the body, used for etabolism

Also used to repair damage

NAD levels in tissues that are energetically demanding can deplete

In chronically inflamed tissues for example, NAD is used to treat the inflammation, so metabolism in turn suffers

You can supplement with a precursor to NAD – Nicatinomide Ryboside, which in turn increases NAD levels

Take All Factors Into Account

One study came out showing higher protein consumption from meat was associated with a higher all cause and cancer mortality

When the data was sub analyzed, if someone had one other unhealthy lifestyle factor (obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol comsumption) then the finding was true. However, if they had/possessed none of these, they had the same all cause/cancer mortality that the non-meat eaters had.

You have to take into account ALL factors when examining studies

Saturated fat along with refined sugar has a negative synergistic effect

When the American Heart Association recently made a statement saying saturated fat led to heart disease, they didn’t take this into account

Note from Rhonda – in animal studies in which animals were fed a high fat diet, it’s almost always high fat AND high sugar

Excessive Protein

When eaten in large quantities, the protein increases the production of the growth factor IGF-1, which can allow damaged cells to not die (basically allowing precancerous cells to form a tumor)

If you’re eating a good diet, and not causing as much damage in the first place, then having that much IGF-1 isn’t as big of deal due to lack of damaged cells

When you exercise in addition to eating a lot of protein, the IGF-1 goes into muscles to help repair damaged muscle tissue, as well as into the brain to grow new neurons

Carcinogens

Carcinogens are in charred meat (from the heterocyclinc amines – HCAs – that are formed)

Our bodies have genes that can inactivate/detoxify these HCAs (through detoxification enzymes), people can do this to varying degrees

Cruciferous vegetables can also inactive these HCAs

Broccoli sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts

The Ames Test, created by Rhonda’s mentor Bruce Ames, tests whether something is a carcinogen

Meat

All animals/meat differ in their amino acid makeup and micronutrient concentrations, so it’s good to eat a diverse array of animal protein

22% of the enzymes in your body require a micronutrient as a cofactor in order to work

A low folate diet causes damaged DNA

One good source of folate – leafy greens.

Other Micronutrients

Lutein – present in kale

Leads to better learning and memory

PQQ – Rhonda supplements with this (20mg a day), made by bacteria in the soil, plants take it up from the soil

Has been shown to improve mitochondrial function, lowers markers of inflammation

Has 20,000x times the effect of ascorbic acid, so it’s a really powerful antioxidant

The Microbiome

Many healthy older people in their 90s, have microbiomes that look very much like that of a younger person in their 30s

This makes a case for microbiome transplants, like fecal transplants

The microbiome regulates the immune system

There are correlations between gut microbiome and chilldren with Autism and Asbergers, Parkinson’s Disease, and Multiple Sclerosis

Some of the short chain fatty acids that certain species of bacteria in the microbiome make increase the production of natural killer T cells

In studies in which animals were injected with human tumors, and the animals took a large dose of probiotics which can make those short chain fatty acids, the killer T cells produced were found to kill cancer cells almost as good as the chemotherapy

“The gut is so important, it’s the major source of inflammation in the body”

Stevia

Non-nutritive sweetener (not like sucralose, aspertame (found in Diet Coke), and sacrine which can all mess up the microbiome – it changes the composition so the bacteria that are really good at harvesting glucose increase in number, causing people to become obese)

Some studies have shown it improves insulin sensitivity

We haven’t really seen negative health consequences, but Rhonda didn’t consume any during pregnancy

Probiotics

For probiotics to work, you either have to take them constantly or their needs to be space in your gut for them to take residence

Xantham gum isn’t that bad, but other emulsifiers in hot sauces for example, can disrupt the gut microbiome

Inflammatory Foods and Pregnancy

Eating a pro-inflammatory diet will have an adverse effect on your offspring

Higher rates of Type I diabetes in offspring, lower cognition scores

It’s hard to do causal studies showing this (in which you would feed someone high inflammatory foods during pregnancy, as it’s unethical), so all the scientific data is from animal studies, or looking specifically at obese mothers who are thought to have eaten badly during pregnancy

Maternal/Paternal Age and Diet

Paternal age (the father’s age) has been linked to autism, also smoking

Maternal Age has been linked to Down’ Syndrome

In male mice fed a high fat and high sugar diet, in which they become obese, and their offspring are fed a normal diet, the offspring have a higher rate of Type I Diabetes

The obesity changes genes that regulate pancreatic beta cell insulin production in their sperm DNA, which is passed on to the offspring

Exercise

Rhonda is doing a lot of high intensity spin training

She also did a lot of walking during her pregnancy

She wants to incorporate more strength training – there’s been studies showing people who do strength training have a 23% lower all cause mortality and 30% lower cancer related mortality

Leg strength has been linked to massive improvements in cognitive function – maybe it’s related to high blood flow to the brain?